Product Description

Winner of the 2001 Carnegie Medal

One rat, popping up here and there, squeaking loudly, and taking a bath in the cream, could be a plague all by himself. After a few days of this, it was amazing how glad people were to see the kid with his magical rat pipe. And they were amazing when the rats followed hint out of town.

They'd have been really amazed if they'd ever found out that the rats and the piper met up with a cat somewhere outside of town and solemnly counted out the money.

The Amazing Maurice runs the perfect Pied Piper scam. This streetwise alley cat knows the value of cold, hard cash and can talk his way into and out of anything. But when Maurice and his cohorts decide to con the town of Bad Blinitz, it will take more than fast talking to survive the danger that awaits. For this is a town where food is scarce and rats are hated, where cellars are lined with deadly traps, and where a terrifying evil lurks beneath the hunger-stricken streets....

Set in Terry Pratchett's widely popular Discworld, this masterfully crafted, gripping read is both compelling and funny. When one of the world's most acclaimed fantasy writers turns a classic fairy tale on its head, no one will ever look at the Pied Piper -- or rats -- the same way again!

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24330 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 368 pages

Review
"Delves into weighty issues but keeps its sense of dark humor." -- USA Today

"Pratchett rethinks a classic story and comes up with a winner. A not–to–be–missed delight." -- School Library Journal (starred review)

About the Author

Terry Pratchett's novels have sold more than fifty-five million (give or take a few million) copies worldwide. He lives in England.

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As many of you know, beloved house author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease. Terry has become active in fundraising efforts to support Alzheimer's research. Click here to read a speech Terry made to the Alzheimer's Research Trust Conference in the UK earlier this year. If you are interested in making a tax-free donation to to the Alzheimer's Association click here.

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Customer Reviews

typically brilliant!
If you're familiar with Terry Pratchett's work, this is every bit as good as the best. For those who don't yet know the joys of Discworld, this is a great book to start with. It does take place in the Pratchett universe, but it's much more stand-alone than many of his books. Thoughtful, exciting, and -- above all -- hilarious!

The second rat gets the cheese!
While this is technically a Discworld novel (even Death makes a cameo appearance), it's really an independent story intended for young adult readers. However, Pratchett (like Heinlein) writes books for younger readers that actually appeal to all readers. The thing is, the wizards of Unseen University have a toxic spell-dump behind their institution that often has unpredictable effects on living (and previously nonliving) things. In this case, the rats that live and take their meals there find themselves with suddenly advanced intelligence. They learn to think, to act in concert, to read, to wear selected clothing and use weapons, and to dream of a utopian future. However, Maurice, who has also become intelligent, is a cat with imagination and the soul of a con man, and he organizes a Pied Piper scam with the aid of the rats and a stupid-looking young musician named Keith. And they're making good money, until they choose as their next target the town of Bad Blintz, where a mysterious and very dangerous force is at work among the rats and rat-catchers. As his fans know, Pratchett understands the feline psychology, and Maurice is a hoot: "Cats are good at steering people. A miaow here, a purr there, a little gentle pressure with a claw . . . and Maurice had never had to think about it before. Cats didn't have to think. They just had to know what they wanted. Humans had to do the thinking. That's what they were for." But it turns out he also knows a lot about the social life of rats. (He read "more about rats than is good for me," he says in the Afterword.) Among the rats, there's the practical engineer with a military bent, the old-fashioned boss who distrusts change, the nearly blind intellectual mystic, the politically astute lieutenant (and tap dancer), the loyal young female -- all the characters you would expect in an epic. The dialogue is believable (and not nearly as off the wall as in the "mainstream" Discworld novels), the characterization is spot on (especially Malicia, the mayor's daughter, who considers life just one long fairy tale and packs accordingly), and Pratchett never hesitates to bring in a bit of shocking truth. An excellent book.

Doesn't pull punches when it comes to the darkness, but absolutely wonderful
I posted a reply to a comment made a while back by a concerned mother, and wanted to repost it in the larger comments section because I feel it's important to get out there. The reviewer noted that the book discusses cruelty, starvation, cannibalism and animal fighting. For the record, Terry Pratchett is NOT OK with any of these terrible things, as is made abundantly clear in the book! He describes these scenes with tangible disgust. And they are there because there are important moral lessons about courage, bravery, altruism and friendship to be learned.

I'm an adult fan of Terry Pratchett's with no children, and while it is a rather dark book, I know that I would have been able to handle it back when I was in 5th grade or so. Then again I was an only child and very mature as my parents treated me as an equal who found out her own capabilities rather than was kept from the darker elements of the world "for her own good." A running theme in Pratchett's work is that children are far more intelligent and able to discern right from wrong than adults give them credit for. I would have loved to have read this book as a child! Don't dismiss it out of hand. It is challenging, but far more rewarding than reading, say, "Mr. Bunnsy".

Finally, although I'm sure I don't have to spell it out after my rants above, I absolutely loved this book. And I do understand why a parent might be concerned about a child getting scared by some of the more sinister elements of T.A.M.A.H.E.R. But the overall messages of tolerance and friendship are so positive that I think every kid should read this as soon as they are mentally and emotionally able. Let your children decide; I bet they'll surprise you.